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If you are in the process of gathering a bibliography for your research project or academic work, the Library provides you with a range of high-quality information resources – both multidisciplinary and subject-specific – either subscribed to by Iscte or available via open access. Browse the lists and select the resource(s) best suited to your information needs.
At an early or exploratory stage, the most useful resource for retrieving information may be the Iscte Discovery Service. This tool brings together all the information, in both print and digital formats, that the Library makes available to the community.
If you wish to access master’s dissertations and doctoral theses in your field, use the Iscte Repository, which aims to preserve, disseminate and provide access to Iscte’s intellectual output in digital format.
If you are an experienced researcher with published work, you may wish to use the Scopus and Web of Science reference databases, particularly if you wish to answer any of the following questions: what is being published in my field of expertise?; who is publishing in my field of expertise?; who is funding the research published in my field of expertise?
To find out more about how these databases can be useful to researchers, please consult the online Web of Science and Scopus Guides for researchers [link to be made available shortly]
Note: A VPN connection is required to access information resources from off-campus, with the exception of the Bibliographic Catalogue, the Institutional Repository and the IFRS Platform, which authenticates users via their account details.
Information search: how to search
To make the most effective use of the available resources, you should define an information search strategy. A search strategy consists of the structured organisation of terms used to search a database. If you are just starting your research journey, find out how to identify relevant search terms.
Three useful tips:
Search for terms in English: English is the language of science, so you will retrieve a set of information that is more in line with the state of the art in your field of knowledge.
Identify compound terms as phrases: for terms consisting of more than one word, databases have symbols (most commonly quotation marks) that allow you to identify the terms as a phrase rather than a collection of separate words.
Use the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT: these operators allow you to construct search queries when the concepts you wish to explore are more complex.
Information search: how to use it
Once you have gathered the required information, you should take certain precautions when using it. If you are a researcher with little experience, it is advisable to set up a note-taking system that will enable you, when writing, to locate the information and avoid situations of plagiarism.
To find out more about academic integrity and plagiarism, watch the online course on the subject.
Using a bibliographic reference manager from the start of the process is a good idea, as it will enable you to gather all relevant information, organise it and use it later in a practical way.
The Library offers regular training on the Mendeley bibliographic reference manager. Keep an eye out for updates to our calendar. It also provides a support guide and an online course on this software.
To support academic work, the Library has also produced guides on bibliographic referencing styles. Find all the guides here.
Find out more about the scientific writing process in the online guide – Scientific Writing: Communicating Effectively
Managing research data: how and why
For researchers with more complex research programmes, and particularly those with projects funded by national and international agencies, research data management is becoming an increasingly important issue. In a collaboration between the Library and the Research Support Office, the online guide ‘Research Data Management’ has been produced. Its aim is to support and facilitate the process of managing research data by bringing together information, resources and examples of good practice in a single point of access.
